Monday, March 28, 2011

We have been having some pretty unusual weather lately. Still pretty cold but with a lot of random showers here and there. Not sure if the weather forecasters have a clue anymore because I would say they have been about 50% accurate since the beginning of the year. Need to update those weather tracking devices or something. I understand the degree of accuracy can be off but usually its from being sunny to partly cloudy or instead of 75 degrees its 77 ... but from sunny and cool to being wet and cold, that is a big difference in my opinion. Even now my weather widget says its 61 and cloudy ... and I just had a flash rain and complete overcast. Also it sure feels cold but I guess 60 is about right. Need to update that equipment people!

Weekly Update:
This past week wasn't too bad, kind of quiet but still busy at the same time. Had some house guest over the weekend, they left and more came in staying into this following week. Thursday night I did go to a King's vs Sharks hockey game which was pretty cool. Had really great seats and then got to meet my friend's dad up in the press box that is his office since he does the radio play-by-play for the LA Kings. The game itself was pretty good. It was a very close game and King's almost won but the Shark's scored a goal to tie it up with about 3 seconds left to go. Then the game went into sudden death 5 min overtime which no goal was scored. THEN it went into 3 vs 3 shoot out at which it remained tied. However, the first Shark's goal should not have counted because the player went slightly pass the goal and stopped then shot it in and from what my friend tells me, you are not allowed to stop on the shoot out. After that it went into 1 vs 1 shoot outs till one makes it and the other team loses ... finally the King's won but what an exciting game and I never saw a shoot out because they tend to just end in OT if I ever saw a tied game.

At the movies:
Big upset at the box office this weekend as kid comedy takes out eye-candy adult! In at #1 is Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules with a decent 24.4 million for it's debut. The family sequel starts off the Easter Break! New at #2 is the action film Sucker Punch with 19 mil. Slight drop to #3 is "Limitless" with an extra 15.3 mil. Down to #4 is "The Lincoln Lawyer" with another 11.1 mil. Rounding off the top 5 is "Rango" with an extra 9.8 mil as it surpasses the 100 mil cume mark.

Quote of the week:
"Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to." - George Seaton

Other News:
Wednesday morning a true Hollywood legend passed away. I would consider this one almost like royalty for the silver or big screen. Actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away Wednesday after a bought with congestive heart failure. Taylor was one actress in which we all watched her grow up through the movies. From the pre-teen in "National Velvet" to living piece of history in "Cleopatra" which nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox at that time. She defined American pop culture over the past 70 years. Taylor is a two time Academy Award Winner for Best Actress in "BUtterfield 8" (1960) and for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966). Taylor was also famous for being the constant bride as she was married eight different times to seven different husbands. She had married Richard Burton two times in a row from 1964 to 1974 in which they divorced and re-married in 1975 to 1976 which they divorced again. Her list of credits is beyond impressive but to name just a few: "Giant," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Sandpiper," "The Taming of the Shrew," and was the voice of Maggie Simpsons when she spoke her first and only word on the hit TV show "The Simpsons." A true Hollywood icon who will sorely be missed. Taylor was 79.

Facts & Tips:
The blue whale's heart is the size of a small car.

"Excuse me, C-C-Captain..." - John Volstad as Corporal (Captain Stillman's Aide) in "Stripes."

posted by McDuck @ 00:35 0 comments

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I have to say, usually the weather service is about 25% of the time right and since about Thursday of the week I kept getting flash flood warnings starting Sunday. Well, I have to say ... it POURED rain on Sunday and there was all kinds of flooding. I was in Los Angeles in the afternoon and saw a tree knocked over in the middle of the road and other parts of the street littered with tree branches. You could see the sky-high palm trees swaying crazy in the wind ... it was quite the crazy weather we are getting and also cold on top of it! We sometimes get "April Showers" but I sure don't remember it like this. With this weather, the mountains must be covered in snow again which will be cool to see when it finally stops raining and clears up!

Weekly Update:
Spent most of the week again on set for the Disney show "Pair of Kings" and got to meet the rest of the cast while there:

*Mitchel Musso- one of the principle cast and a nice kid.
*Larramie Doc Shaw- another of the main cast and good kid.
*Kelsey Chow- another principle cast and very sweet.
*Ryan Ochoa- one of the main cast and a really level headed and great kid.

Aside from that, still was another pretty busy week with consulting and these numerous side projects going on. Start of the week I was completely running on empty because I didn't get any sleep in a 48 hour period.

At the movies:
A little bit of a shocker at the box office as the unusual film of Limitless takes top honors with a respectable 19 mil. This marks the first win for new studio Relativity in their otherwise dismal release pattern so far. Can they keep the streak going? Slight drop down to #2 is "Rango" with an extra 15.3 mil as it just passes the 90 mil cume sure to break 100 soon. Sizable drop to #3 is "Battle: Los Angeles" with 14.6 mil as it struggles to see 90 mil. New at #4 is The Lincoln Lawyer with 13.4 mil. Right behind that is the comedy Paul with 13.2 mil, a tad under expectations.

Quote of the week:
"Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternatives." - Maurice Chevalier

Other News:
Japan still struggles with the aftermath from the earthquake from last week as the newest threat of nuclear meltdown looms over them. Several reactors are near meltdown and desperate measures continue to cool them down to avoid catastrophe. The latest development is additional gas to be released into the atmosphere to avoid a full meltdown which means more radiation but to what levels? Recently milk and spinach growing in nearby areas were found to be contaminated with radiation but unsure if it is completely unusable or unhealthily which I am assuming it is. On top of all that, still thousands of missing persons and compound that with almost half a million displaced people who have lost their homes. But the government of Japan said they will rebuild and we know as a people they can since destruction has hit this small island country once before and not more than 100 years ago either ... not even 70 years ago. This current disaster has the death toll up to about 18,000 now. Hopefully soon some stability will occur and rebuilding can commence.

Facts & Tips:
Chinese is the most spoken language in the world.

"I'm not scared of you." - Kristen Stewart as Isabella Swan in "Twilight."

posted by McDuck @ 01:14 0 comments

Monday, March 14, 2011

DST Edition

This past weekend was Daylight Saving Time where we "spring forward" for Spring. As always, I hate this one because you lose that precious hour of sleep. I know it is on the weekend but an hour is an hour and we don't get that back till Fall! So, this now means it won't get dark till about 8PM as we quickly approach the Summer months. I think what I do hate more than losing that hour are the states who do not observe either DST. And then the people from those states think they are correct or better because they are from a state which doesn't observe it ... way to be a part of the UNITED States friend.

Weekly Update:
Been one heck of a busy week with some consulting work and some minor odds and ends. But those minor things do add up and this coming week looks to be even busier with more of the same stuff along with a charity event mixed in. I was pretty slow for months and then all of a sudden BAM it all comes at once. I would have preferred a gradual busy-ness instead of this but what can ya do! During the week I did get to visit the set of this Disney TV show called "Pair of Kings" which by the looks of it seems like "Gilligan's Island" but for kids. The sets were pretty cool though and played some billiards with bamboo cue sticks ... neat. I did met a couple of the cast and got a quick shot with one of them:

*Geno Segers- Really cool guy.

At the movies:
Action reclaims the box office as we get closer and closer to summer but Spring Break is about to start. In at #1 this weekend is the sci-fi action Battle: Los Angeles with a decent 36 million. Slight drop to #2 is "Rango" with an extra 23 mil as it quickly heads to 100 mil cume. New at #3 is Red Riding Hood with 14.1 mil. Drop down to #4 is "The Adjustment Bureau" with another 11.5 mil and losing some steam fast. Rounding off the top 5 and debuting with a very low opening is Mars Needs Moms with only 6.8 mil.

Quote of the week:
"The surest way to remain a winner is to win once, and then not play any more." - Ashleigh Brilliant

Other News:
Without question the big news of the week is the devastating 8.9 earthquake that was just off the coast of Japan on Friday. This magnitude is known as a Great Earthquake and the biggest in recorded history for that region. But the real damage and problems is the aftermath of the tsunami which is waves and waves of water sweeping in from the shorelines making its way inland bringing cars, houses, various debris with it. Also, since the initial earthquake hitting, there have been 100's of after shocks ranging from the low 2's to as high as 7.0! Normally in Southern California we get hit with 5's and 6's and those are really big rockers, they are getting dozens of them 5.0 and stronger! The amazing thing is we find that Japan's infrastructure is simply amazing and they have built their cities prepared for earthquakes. The loss of life from the just the earthquake was next to nothing. The loss of life from the tsunami's however has easily surpassed 1,000 (along with thousands of injured and still hundreds missing). The quake itself did cause a lot of damage, don't misunderstand that nothing happened but structural damage is still severe and fires are breaking out. The loss of life is primarily from the continuous tsunamis and as the after shocks continue, they create more ripples in the waves. These waves have reached the shores of the US but damage was minimal or nothing on the West Coast mainland. And to add more fuel to the fire (no pun intended), multiple safety malfunctions are occurring at numerous nuclear power plants with partial meltdowns. Rebuilding of this nation will be a huge undertaking but these are a very dedicated and industrious people ... I am sure once the water has refrained and the quakes stop, we will see a stronger rebuilt Japan very quickly. Hopefully they will be able to start that very soon!

Facts & Tips:
Butterflies were formerly known by the name Flutterby.

"We're Americans, please shoot the people chasing us!" - Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the TV Movie "Stargate: Continuum."

posted by McDuck @ 00:34 0 comments

Monday, March 07, 2011

Sure is some strange weather as of late ... just this past week we had rain, heat wave and some really cold nights. The high was about mid 80's and the low was around 40. Sunny, cloudy and some rain on Sunday. I have no idea what to make of it but this is not typical SoCali weather. We are generally way more consistent than this. I think this coming week is suppose to be mostly sunny and in the mid 70's but who knows, the weather report never seems to be very accurate past 6 hours out these days.

Weekly Update:
What a busy week ... I'm tired. Did a lot of things but I guess the main highlight was going to the "Take Me Home Tonight" premiere on Wednesday. The movie was fun but not GREAT. Of course the music was totally AWESOME! While there though I did manage some snaps with some folks ... totally:

*Dan Fogler- From the movie and also "Balls of Fury," pretty nice guy.
*Teresa Palmer- From the movie and "Bedtime Stories," also incredibly sweet.
*Chris Pratt- From the movie and the TV series "Everwood," and a very cool guy.
*Michelle Trachtenberg- From the movie and the TV series "Buffy." She was nice.
*Demetri Martin- From the movie and was a writer for Conan O'Brien ... also a very funny guy.
*Angie Everhart- From the movie and very nice.
*Anthony Michael Hall- So many ... from "The Breakfast Club" to "Dead Zone" and other great classic 80's films ... also a really cool guy.
*Mike Erwin- From the TV series "Everwood" and a laid back kind of guy.
*Jody Sweetin- From the TV series "Full House" and very sweet.
*Lance Bass- From the boy band 'N Sync and a pretty nice guy.

At the movies:
No big surprise at the box office this week but what is nice is the rebound in grosses since the award season is now over. New at #1 is the animated comedy Rango with a nice 38 million for its debut. Slight distant 2nd place is the suspense drama The Adjustment Bureau with 21 mil. Surprise showing at #3 is Beastly with a decent 10.1 mil. By all accounts this film looks terrible so this is a bit of a shock. Slight drop down to #4 is "Hall Pass" with another 9 mil. Big drop down to #5 is "Gnomeo & Juliet" with 6.9 mil as it crawls to reach the 100 mil cume but might just end up a tad short when its all said and done.

New movies that did not make the top 5: Only one this week as the losing streak for Relativity Media continues. The throw-back '80's comedy Take Me Home Tonight only earns 3.5 mil. Not a strong number by any means but honestly I thought it could have done 6 mil.

Quote of the week:
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures." - Daniel Webster

Comment Response:
Yeah who knows what the deal was with that musical number and Hugh Jackman. It was about 2 to 3 minutes (that felt like 10!) that could have been completely omitted from the show.

Other News:
Legendary bombshell and actress Jane Russell passed away in her home surrounded by family at Santa Maria, California from respiratory-related illness on Monday. Russell's first started appearing on the scene during World War II as an iconic pin-up girl for servicemen across the globe. This was the brain-child of billionaire Howard Hughes who used Russell's images to promote her relentlessly, grinding out photos in her many low-cut and provocative outfits (for the time). Naturally that became incredibly popular with the boys fighting the war. Russell had a very limited acting career and starred in quiet a few Westerns like "Paleface," "The Tall Men," and "Foxfire." She also starred in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" with Marilyn Monroe. I think for me she was best known as the spokeswoman for Playtex bras with her numerous commercials during the '80's. She sort of disappeared from the public eye in the late '80's and devoted a lot of time to her church and community living a quieter life. Bob Hope once introduced Russell as "the two and the only Jane Russell." She was 89.

Facts & Tips:
Frowning burns more calories then smiling.

"Whatcha got today?" - Irwin Keyes as Joe Rockhead in "The Flintstones."

posted by McDuck @ 00:34 0 comments